According to Management Issues Ltd., an online site devoted to management and leadership, 70 percent of bosses in the UK say in a survey that they see no value in employing experienced older workers.
This seems to be the complete opposite of what we are seeing here in the US. Many companies have initiatives around hiring and retaining the baby-boomers looking at retirement in the next few years. Even though there is much evidence stating that their will be a workforce shortage in the next few years, more than half of the UK companies surveyed said that employing those 65 or older will trigger health-related issues. And even though 3/4 of the employees expressed a desire to work beyond retirement, only 17 percent of employers are actively seeking older workers.
Now lets shed a little light on this information. In Management Issues reports, age-discrimination experts contend that some of the U.K. companies are firing older workers in anticipation of new anti-age discrimination laws that take effect on October 1st. Yikes! Nothing like culling the herd before it becomes a legal inconvenience.